Minneapolis–St. Paul Airport Trams

Hub Tram
Overview
Type	People mover
Termini	Lindbergh Terminal Hub Building
Stations	2
Services	1
Operation
Opened	April 3, 2001[1]
Rolling stock	Poma-Otis Hovair
Technical
Line length	1,100 feet (340 m)[1]

'C' Concourse People Mover
Overview
Type	People mover
Stations	4
Services	2
Operation
Opened	May 5, 2004[2]
Rolling stock	Poma-Otis steel-on-steel cable cars
Technical
Line length	2,700 feet (820 m)[2]

The Minneapolis–St. Paul Airport Trams consist of a pair of cable-drawn automated people movers that serve travelers of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport. Both were constructed by the Poma-Otis Transit Company of Farmington, Connecticut^[1] and are operated under the direction of the Metropolitan Airports Commission.

Hub Tram

The older of the two systems, the Hub Tram, opened on April 3, 2001.^[1] Covering a distance of 1,100 feet (340 m), the Hub Tram is designed to quickly transport passengers between the Lindbergh Terminal and the Hub Building where travelers can find rental car service counters, a transit center and the Airport-Lindbergh Terminal light rail station, from which passengers can transfer to the Humphrey Terminal at no extra charge.^[3] Costing $25 million to complete, the Hub Tram was originally scheduled to open in Fall 2000, but a computer glitch resulted in postponing its opening.^[1] Trams on this system, which is fully underground, operate on a cushion of air and there are no physical guide rails. The technology is identical to that of the ExpressTram at Detroit Wayne County Airport and the people mover at Cincinnati International Airport.

'C' Concourse People Mover

The newer of the two systems, the 'C' Concourse People Mover, opened on May 5, 2004.^[2] Covering a distance of 2,700 feet (820 m), this tram is designed to quickly transport passengers between the concourses of the Lindbergh Terminal on two independent routes, one located airside and the other located landside.^[4] Costing $36 million to complete, the 'C' Concourse tram was originally scheduled to open on June 1, 2002, but computer software problems and a collision with the vehicles resulted in postponing its opening to 2004.^[5] The four cars utilized in this system have an average top speed of 26 miles per hour (42 km/h)^[5] and, although the appearance of the vehicles is similar to the Hub Tram, they use steel wheels on steel tracks as the 'C' Concourse line is above ground and open to the elements, where ice and snow could interfere with the operation of the air cushions had it been built with Hovair technology.

References